


Kids love Bucky (Steve does too)

by sadsongssaysomuch



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cute Kids, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 09:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2344169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadsongssaysomuch/pseuds/sadsongssaysomuch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>#Steve and Bucky go out post-recovery<br/>#and Bucky always stops for kids who recognize him<br/>#and talks about how Steve really is his best friend<br/>#best friends are important<br/>#then he takes the picture and knocks them gently on the helmet<br/>#and Steve just watches it all happen<br/>#and he smiles so big<br/>#and later Steve and Bucky get home<br/>#and there is kissing</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kids love Bucky (Steve does too)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Feanor_in_leather_pants](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feanor_in_leather_pants/gifts).



It’s a good day. Steve is almost tempted to call it a perfect day. The sun is out, shining overhead through the trees, the path covered in fallen leaves, dappled with glittering shafts of sunlight. There’s just enough of a breeze to ruffle Bucky’s hair as they walk through the park.

Rounding a corner in the path, they pass by a small play area. Steve’s a little preoccupied, composing sketches in his head so that later, back at home he can capture the way the clouds, the sun, and the trees looked. He’s lost in his own world of colors and light until Bucky tugs on his sleeve, bringing him back to reality.

Steve cocks his head, a slow grin spreading across his face as he sees what Bucky had noticed right away. Two small boys, both dressed like Captain America.

They’d slowed their walk, Bucky when he saw the boys, Steve when Bucky drew his attention to them. The children were busy, playing the way only small boys can. A dark haired woman, their mother or maybe a nanny, sits on a nearby bench, watching them.

“Hey look!” the taller of the two boys came skidding to a halt, bits of leaves and mulch flying around him. He points at Steve and Bucky, finger trembling.

The shorter boy stops too, looking up with wide eyes. “I know who dat is,” he lisps.

“Shh,” the taller boy hushes him, but it’s already too late.

Bucky stops, waiting to see what the boys will do. He’s focused on the children now, smiling at them. Steve tips a nod to the woman on the bench, which she returns with a small wave.

Bucky bends low, putting him at the boys’ level. “Hey, fellas.”

“You’re Captain America’s friend,” the smaller boy says, his words whistling through the gap between his front teeth.

“That’s right,” Bucky tells him. He extends his hand, his right hand, for a handshake.

The taller boy rushes up to them. “Chase! You can’t just go bugging people,” he scolds. “Especially Captain America and Bucky!” he hisses.

Bucky withdraws his hand slowly, still smiling at the boys.

“Sorry ‘bout my brother, Mister,” the taller boy says.

As Steve watches the exchange, the woman from the bench joins him on the path. “I’m so sorry,” she apologizes. “They’re not bothering him, are they?

“No ma’am, they’re fine. As long as you don’t mind?”

She shakes her head at Steve, who’s only giving her a sliver of his attention. “They’re very big fans.”

“Your boys?” he asks.

She smiles brightly at Steve, who’s still watching Bucky out of the corner of his eye. “I’m their nanny. But they really are my boys. They wore those costumes for Halloween last year and have barely taken them off since.”

Steve chuckles, it’s funny that the kids dressed in copies of his uniform have approached Bucky and not him. He listens to Bucky talk to the children.

“You two are brothers, huh?” Bucky says, still squatting at the boys’ height.

“I’m Chase, and this is my brother Xander,” the younger boy says. “He’s my best friend, just like you’re Captain America’s best friend!”

“Pleased to meetcha, Chase, Xander,” Bucky says, trying for a handshake again. Chase takes his hand, pumping it enthusiastically. When Bucky holds his hand out for Xander, the older boy takes it, exhibiting more caution than his younger brother does.

It’s then that Chase seems to notice Steve, and he sidles over to where Steve is waiting with the nanny.

Steve’s sensitive hearing comes in handy then, as he listens to Chase, complimenting him on his shield, he can still hear Bucky’s conversation with the other boy.

Xander scoffs. “He’s my brother. Not my best friend,” he whispers conspiratorially to Bucky.

Bucky considers this for a moment. “No reason he can’t be both. Best friends are very important you know. Steve, Captain America is my best friend, has been since we were your age.” He shakes his thumb in Steve’s direction.

“Yeah, but that’s different, he’s not your brother,” Xander tells him, slowly, as if he were the one explaining something to a child.

Bucky could have laughed, but he doesn’t. “Well, that is true. But Steve was like a brother to me. I can’t tell you how many times Steve and me picked each other up, helped each other out. Lemme ask you something. Your brother ever fall down?”

Xander considers this for a moment. “Not so much anymore, but yeah, sometimes.”

“And you help him up, when he does fall down?” Bucky asks.

“Sure, I guess.”

“And if somebody was hurting him, would you try and stop them?”

“Yeah, of course,” Xander says defensively.

“Then that sounds like he’s your best friend too, not just your brother. He’s your brother because you were born that way. He’s your best friend because you love him.”

Xander screws up his face, then nods. “I do love him. Don’t tell him I said that though.” He’s solemn and serious and this time Bucky almost does laugh.

“No, I wouldn’t dream of breathing a word of that to him.” He rises then, as Steve and the nanny approach with Chase. “Ma’am,” he says, offering her his hand to shake, as he’d done with the boys.

“Please, call me Shay,” she tells him.

Chase tugs on the leg of Shay’s pants, interrupting whatever she was going to say next.

“Can we take a picture, Miss Shay?”

“We don’t want to bother Captain America too much sweetheart,” she says, smiling down at Chase before looking at Steve apologetically.

“No!” Xander interrupts. “We want to take a picture with Bucky.” He looks at Bucky sheepishly. “I mean, it that’s okay?”

Bucky does laugh now, a wide grin breaking across his face. “I’d be honored.”

Shay pulls out her phone as the boys gather around Bucky. Steve steps aside and then almost as an afterthought, pulls out his phone too.

Bucky pulls the boys in close, Chase on his right, Xander on his left, rapping his knuckles on their helmets, sending them both into a fit of giggles before bending down so they all fit in the frame.

“Say cheese!” Shay calls.

Shay takes a picture, and so does Steve. Chase smiles, a toothless cheesy grin, Xander smiling more close-mouthed and serious, with Bucky between them. And Bucky, well to Steve his smile is brighter than the fall sunshine.

“Okay, got it!” Shay calls to the boys.  Bucky rejoins Steve and they boys swarm Shay, clamoring to see the picture.

“Thank you again,” she says to Steve and Bucky. “You really made their day. They’ll talk about this for months.”

“No, thank you,” Bucky tells her. And Steve knows he means it.

“We’d better let them get back to their walk,” Shay tells the boys. “Tell them thank you and say goodbye,” she prompts them.

“Thank you, bye,” Xander says in his serious tone.

“Fanks Captain America and Mr. Bucky!” Chase says, waving gleefully. “G’bye!”

The rest of the walk, the entire way back home, Bucky is beaming. Smiling wider than Steve has seen in a long time, a very long time. Back at their apartment, the crisp scent of the fall air still clinging to their clothes, Steve finally says the words he’s been thinking since their encounter with the boys in the park.

“You were so great with those kids, Bucky. It was sweet. I heard what you said about best friends.”

Bucky ducks his head, ever so slightly, and Steve can see bits of leaves clinging in his hair, orange, red and yellow decorating the soft, dark strands. When Bucky looks back up at Steve, his lips are curved into a sweeter smile, this one just for Steve.

“It’s true, the stuff I said. About best friends. About you.”

“I know, Bucky.”  Steve nods, reaching out to cup Bucky’s jaw in his hand. He tries to keep a straight face, but fails. “You love me like a brother.” He convulses with mirth, his hand shaking on Bucky’s face.

“Steve, shut up, I’m trying to have a moment here.” Bucky scowls.

Straightening up, smoothing a hand through Bucky’s hair, Steve starts to pluck out the bits of leaves. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist. How can I make it up to you?”

“You could start by kissing me.”

Steve’s hand falls from Bucky’s hair, sweeping over his cheek, down to rest where the curve of his neck meets his shoulder. He pulls Bucky closer until their noses touch.

Bucky gasps as Steve softly presses their lips together, both of them sinking into the kiss in earnest. Steve slowly traces his tongue along Bucky’s lips, parting his lips easily. They part, just short of breathless, Steve resting his nose in Bucky’s hair.

“I love you,” Steve tells him.

 “Fanks, Captain America!” Bucky says, before dissolving into laughter.

“Hey, what happened to our moment?” Steve asks with mock-seriousness.

“Oh, just shut up and kiss me again,” Bucky tells him, still laughing.

It really was a perfect day.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at [lovealetterbomb](http://lovealetterbomb.tumblr.com/)


End file.
